Miami: A Saga

by Evelyn Wilde Mayerson

An epic, one-hundred-year saga of those who made Miami a center of power and privilege includes frontier woman Eulalie, black fugitive Caroline, immigrant Salman Levy, and Starlight, Eulalie's glamorous, liberated descendant. Reprint.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1994

Reviews

[Dylann Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an odd book. Mundane, relatively unimportant scenes were given multiple pages and unnecessary descriptions were given paragraphs, while hugely important events were mentioned casually in a sentence. It was quite difficult to keep track of who all the characters were, but the family trees in the front helped quite a bit.

BUT. I really enjoyed it. I learned things about Miami history I did not know. It was nice to see the history of the area change as mirrored in the various characters rather than to simply read it as a fact of history on a plaque or in a book. Parts of it were really very interesting.

[Sondra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just an "ok" book. Was hard to keep track of who was who. The genealogy chart helped. But was interesting to read how Miami, Florida changed from one swamps to city.

[Lida]

This book was lent to me by a friend who said that she, her sisters, and mother loved this book and they call it a "juicy". :) I got through the first 100 or so pages easily, but the storyline has switched to another family and I haven't been able to get into that yet and have been easily distracted by other books...

Well, I managed to finish the book and found it was entertaining, but light on details. It did a good job on touching on the many different racial/social backgrounds that led to the genesis and propagation of Miami as we know it today: Indian, Black, Cuban, Caucasian - particularly the transition from poor settlers to the rich upper crust, both Gentile and Jew. It was interesting to see how family history is subverted and when the truth comes out, no one really believes it or cares. It is kind of sad to see how the march of time wears people down and only faint glimpses of the past are remembered, but perhaps that is the most realistic part of the book.

[Kate Albright · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book, carries 2 families from post civil war to present